Crossing Shadows in Nagoya: Hisashi Ishikawa, Hibari Misora, and Behind the Scenes at the Box Office (1950s-2000s)

Crossing Shadows in Nagoya: Hisashi Ishikawa, Hibari Misora, and Behind the Scenes at the Box Office (1950s-2000s)

Hisashi Ishikawa was the head of the Hiramatsu clan of the Yamaguchigumi (Yamaguchigumi III). Later, in 1977, he founded the Nagoya-based Meishinkai and became its first chairman. He was promoted as a direct Yamaguchigumi leader and was also a prefect in the 4th, 5th, and 6th Yamaguchigumi. The city of Nagoya was the nexus between Kansai and Chubu, and was also an important strategic base for Yamaguchigumi. Ishikawa's presence was symbolic in this sense as well.

Behind him, another Nagoya "stage" was spreading. The Kobe Entertainment Company, established in 1957 by Kazuo Taoka, the third Yamaguchigumi boss, dominated the backstage of the postwar entertainment industry. Kobe Entertainment Company developed a nationwide entertainment network, and a branch of the company is said to have existed in Nagoya. There are also traces of an entertainment company called "Meishin Productions" operating in the same area, and it has been pointed out that it may have been related to the Kobe Entertainments Company.

The greatest symbol of this entertainment network was Hibari Misora. Under the patronage of Kazuo Taoka, she toured the country as the "flower of Kobe Entertainment Company" and was supported by Yamaguchigumi executives such as Hisashi Ishikawa. Hibari was like a real daughter to Taoka and played a central role in the prestige and earnings of the Kobe Entertainment Company. The activities in and around the Nagoya branch were the stage that most clearly represented the intersection of entertainment and chivalry.

In 2007, Hisashi Ishikawa retired as chairman of Meishinkai. His successor, Hiroshi Tabori, was promoted to Yamaguchigumi's direct leader, and the Meishinkai still lives on in Nagoya as an influential secondary organization of the Yamaguchigumi. On the other hand, the Kobe Entertainments Company later scaled down its activities amid the trend toward eliminating gangs, and eventually disbanded. However, the intersection between entertainment and the underworld, the star Hibari Misora, and the shadow of Hisashi Ishikawa are deeply engraved in Nagoya's postwar history.